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Saturday, January 30, 2010

This little walker has been a major change in our house. We had no idea just how much Noah knew exactly where he wanted to go. On the bright side, it's been much easier to tell exactly what he's thinking. Doesn't he look grown up all of a sudden?

"Does he need to take a bath tonight?" Hm, the fact that he walked directly into the bathroom and started trying to throw shampoos into the tub is a little hint.

Another joy for a little boy: Blocks

I knew blocks were special, but I had no idea just how much these unpainted wooden blocks would provide entertainment. They're good to chew on, to throw, and... Noah has mastered the art of knocking down towers.

I'm going to make sure I start carrying my camera more often. Right now I'm preocuppied with wiping snotty noses...Also, I should have an update on the daycare switch tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Noah's first pancake experience was mesquite flour pancakes with blueberries in them. Cheerios were not nearly as exciting.

Noah has decided that crawling is not something that interests him. He prefers to try to learn walking. Mom and Ron brought down a walker that Eric and Jennifer gave us a while ago. We left it at their house thinking it would be better in their larger rooms. Little did I know, Noah could steer the thing all around our house! This morning when I got out of the shower he was sitting on the other side of the kitchen in the walker. He looked up, and then made a B-line toward me, navigating around the stove, over the threshold, and right into my legs. I was so surprised by the sense of purpose. He's a very determined little person.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Our street is called Riverview Blvd. It often sounds like a joke, but every once in a while when there's enough rain we get to see a river running just a short little walk from our house.We enjoyed some rain this week, and some incredible clouds and a running river afterwards. These photos are from yesterday morning and evening. Every time the santa cruz river runs like this we think, 'ahh, how nice would our house be if this river ran so close to it all the time?!'

I love the photo of Noah and I (above). It's like a little window into something special.

The sunset with snow on the Catalinas.

Earlier that day it looked like this. Not exactly what you think you'll see in Tucson is it? We wandered down to the riverpark. Noah slept cozily inside Chris' jacket in the ergo, and we enjoyed the view.

This morning I got to sleep in for an extra half hour all by myself. It might not sound exciting if you don't have a little one, but... oh my. I have a very nice husband. When I got up I was greeting by a little elf who had folded all of the laundry (well, most of the laundry).

Thursday, January 21, 2010

This morning at day care the woman who takes care of Noah asked if they should start feeding him table food. What?! Give my tiny baby table food? I can't believe he's already old enough to start trying to pick up and 'chew' little pieces of food.

There must be hundreds of other little things, but I don't know what's actually from this month anymore. Today Noah and I picked Chris up from work. As soon as Chris opened the back door, Noah said, "Dada!" He really has that word down. He loves the cat, but isn't sure about dogs. We'll have to meet some more of them. We're looking forward to some more visits from Grandparents in the next couple of months, but I sure wish they all lived a lot closer.

On Sunday we went for a little hike at sweetwater with Steve and Tasha. Noah isn't posing as readily for the camera anymore, but he enjoyed the hike.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

I showed this jogger last week, but check out with my bike savvy husband did!

He added a bag underneath for carrying all the baby supplies (diapers, wipes, jackets, blankets, toys... hey wait, but were we just going for a short walk...).

Some new road bike style handlebar cork tape so my hands don't have to touch that dry rotted spongy stuff.

And, a sun canopy (which you can see from the side in the photo above). He attached a flexible bar to the sides, and put this canopy extender that we bought for our other stroller a while ago, and voila! I love that the bar was orange and yellow striped.

Isn't is amazing what you can do with a little creativity and a lot of zip ties!?

As you probably know, I started working last week. I work at the same place I've been working for the last few years, but now I'm starting on a new project as program coordinator and I have a real office. I moved out of the basement onto the first floor, and I even have a window! It's very exciting.

Below is the view looking out from the desk. I'm going to get rid of one of the cabinets to free up a little more space in front of the desk. Also, behind the door there is a 3' x 3' sort of cubby space where I want to put some padding and toys and make a little play area for times when Noah gets to come to work with me.

My job is actually going well so far. I think I'm going to like having a lot to do (it sure makes the day go by fast!)

As for daycare. It was a tough week. The first day of work I cried every time someone asked me how I was doing. I only last an hour. The next day wasn't as bad though. By the end of the week I left him there for about four hours and he didn't seem to upset at all. We're thinking about switching to a different daycare that is a little farther away, but we like the feel of it a little bit better.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

I cut up an apple and gave Noah a big round piece to chew on while I ate the other pieces. He loved it. He chewed and chewed, and then noticed that I was taking bites. He watched carefully, and tried the same motion: bite down and pull. He started trying it out. In a few minutes he had bitten off a pretty good sized chunk. Uh-oh, done with the apple. I took it away and turned it over. It turns out he had eaten quite a bit off the back. Pretty sneaky!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

I've been trying and trying to get this photo. Finally a successful shot! It's a little distorted because I had to get so close, but there they are in plain view. The two little teeth that we've been losing so much sleep over. Aren't they cute?

Saturday, January 9, 2010

I really only had to work one day, one meeting, last week. I can't really say that I started work yet. Maya (who was babysitting) was impressed at Noah's persistence and his temper. Apparently he was not so happy that I was gone. It doesn't help that he seems to be getting a whole bunch of teeth all at once. He'll be starting at a real day care on Monday. I still have really mixed feelings about it. As I've mentioned before, I'd really like to be one of those mamas that stays home and makes all their children's toys, clothes, and meals by hand. It would be so nice. Alas, I have a job that I just can't pass up, I'm not actually a very good seemstress or woodworker, and I do like to eat out occasionally and have plastic in my kitchen (eek!). I hope Noah will still turn out alright. We visited the daycare last Friday and he was pretty interested in seeing the other babies. Plus, it's only four hours a day, which makes us really lucky.

Anyway, I know this has been my main topic lately, but it's the major thing happening around here.

Some other fun things from the weekend:

Noah's first BICAS vehicle! BICAS is a local community organization that is basically a warehouse full of old donated bikes, bike parts, and tools. They teach classes about bike maintenance and teach people how to build their own bikes. Once they've finished, they have a bike to ride and they know how to fix it. Plus, it's cheap. Chris absolutely adores BICAS. It's almost like heaven for bike geeks like him. That's why it was so exciting to find this jogging stroller there today. We love our folding stroller, but this faster model will help with a little bit faster walks (and maybe even jogging...) in the river park, and up Tumamoc hill.

And, guess who ate breakfast at Epic this morning? Of course Chris and I, but Noah too! He ate a jar of bananas, apricot and mixed grain. It smelled so good that I almost took a bite. Noah thoroughly enjoyed it.

This next one was actually from the week that Grandma Patti was here. It's the product of all the time we spent planting and watering the garden this year. I think we didn't do quite enough. This is a watermelon, in case you were wondering.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

I don't have any new photos at the moment. It think it's because this has been such a busy and stressful week. I'm supposed to start work on Friday. A new job that (don't tell my boss) I'm not truly qualified for. This is what makes it a great opportunity for me, but also part of what makes it a little bit scary. Another thing that makes it scary is thinking about leaving my sweet baby with anyone else for any period of time. I know it's good for his socializing, it's good for me to have time away, he'll be okay, we have to be away from each other someday anyway.... and the list goes on. It's still so hard though.On the bright side, there is finally a mom and baby yoga class in Tucson! I sure needed it today.I'll try to get at least one good photo tomorrow :)

Saturday, January 2, 2010

I still have a lot of catching up to do: A visit from another grandma, a new pair of cowboy boots, a trip to the zoo... but, for today just a beautiful flower to look at. This year I'm going to enjoy every moment, especially the ones filled with family and love. Smell the flowers so to speak.

Friday, January 1, 2010

The tree with lights and gifts was awe inspiring to this little first-timer. I'm already imagining the day that we look at winnie the pooh and think, "wow, Noah was almost as small as pooh bear."

Surprisingly, he seemed content to spend some time sitting in this gift bag.

A morning walk along the bottom of the valley got our hearts pumping and our lungs full of fresh (however nippy) mountain air.

This one is not from the morning, but playing euchre for a good portion of the afternoon is a Geesey family tradition that was not forgotten this year. For being nearly 92 years old, grandpa is still pretty good!

And, although I had to do a little bit of arm twisting, a family photo while it was still light out.

I mean, Happy New Year!! And a new tooth poking through just this morning! I can't get a picture of it just yet because Noah is hiding it carefully with his curious tongue, but one day soon you'll see it here. My sweet toothless baby was in 2009! Hello 2010 and my growing boy!